Failure Investigation of Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion (MIC) in the North Sea Oil and Gas Production: Bridging Theory and Field Cases

This study highlights the importance of stronger collaboration between industry researchers and academia. It also identifies the various silos that exists among technical scientific disciplines and explains some of the existing barriers and how to overcome them.

The study will cover the latest failure analysis theory on how to integrate MIC in failure investigations in the offshore oil and gas industry. Three examples are given from the North Sea and the learnings are discussed. Case 1 describes an oil transmission system in the UK sector of the North Sea suffering from MIC. Case 2 describes the rupture of a water injection pipeline in the Danish Sector of the North Sea and what the operator learned from the incident. Case 3 will focus on a topside water injection system that suffered from MIC and how the investigation was carried out; from the spool samples left the offshore platform in the Danish sector of the North Sea following it to the shore base and onwards to the specialist materials and microbiology laboratories. Emphasis will be on practical sampling preservation, shipment and laboratory processing and lessons learned from the three cases.

Finally, the study highlights the importance of stronger emphasis on risk assessment models including MIC, industry standards and training of personnel, when it comes to the understanding, mitigation and management of MIC and biofouling in the oil and gas industry.